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Park Hill is a Housing Estate in Sheffield , England . Designed by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith and built between 1957 and 1961, the Deck Access scheme, inspired by Le Corbusier 's Unité D'Habitation and the Smithson's unbuilt schemes, most notably for Golden Lane in London , was viewed as revolutionary at the time. Construction is of an exposed Concrete frame with yellow, orange and red Brick Curtain Wall ing. However, as a result of weathering and soot-staining from passing trains, few people realise this and assume the building to be constructed entirely from concrete.

The concept of the Flat s was described as "streets in the sky". Broad decks, wide enough for Milk Float s, had large numbers of front Door s opening onto them. Each deck of structure, except the top one, has direct access to ground level at some point on the sloping site. The site also allows the roofline to remain level despite the building varying between four and thirteen stories in height. The scheme also incorporates a shopping precinct and a primary school.

Park Hill was the site of the first large scale Slum clearance in Britain , the previous Back-to-back housing having been known as "Little Chicago" in the 1930s, due to the violent crimes sometimes committed there, and was partially razed before World War II .

  • listed in 1998 making it the largest Listed Building in Europe. The city Council hoped this would attract investment to renovate the building, but this was not initially forthcoming. A part- Privatisation scheme by the developer Urban Splash to turn the flats into upmarket Apartment s, Business units and Social Housing is now under way. Two blocks (including the North Block - the tallest part of the buildings) have been cleared and tenants are being forced to move to sometimes unsatisfactory areas due to the demolition of so many social housing properties in Sheffield.


Even now, inhabitants of Sheffield are split on the matter of Park Hill; many believe it to be a part of Sheffield's heritage, while others consider it nothing more than an eyesore and blot on the landscape. Public nominations led it to the top 12 of Channel 4 's Demolition programme.

Park Hill is also the name of the area in which the flats are sited. The name relates to the deer park attached to Sheffield Manor , the remnant of which is now known as Norfolk Park .


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